All things bitter-fluff
by Jiggywidit
Summary: Rin gets turned into a kid for 24 hours. Written for a prompt on the Free! kink meme.
1. Prologue

**0055**  
On an inky Friday night, following an after-hours swim to sneak in more practice, Rin jogs to clear his mind.

Nights on the Samezuka campus are clear of other students. Students who limit themselves to what they can manage before their muscles tell them to stop. Rin likes to think he is different, because he _is_ different. Nobody tells him what he can or can't do, not even his own body. So he jogs, without fail, ignoring the strain of lost energy and sweat sticking skin to cotton shirt.

On this inky Friday night, during his regular jog around school campus, Rin notices something rather peculiar.

In his line of sight, a machine sits, right on the middle of the walk. Metal sticks out in odd angles, thin arms sweep in and out of crevices like snake tongues tasting the air. Two bulbs are attached on opposite sides, one blinks red, the other is green. The machine-robot-thing wordlessly blocks his path, as if mocking him, _hey kid, watcha doin' up so late, tryin' ta be tuff? HAH. Whatta joke!_

Rin feels the apparatus provoking him, the red light lazily blinking in his direction, snorting in contempt at this _kid_ who thinks he's hot stuff. Well, screw that thing! Rin can do whatever the hell he wants, and nobody blinks a light at him like it's telling him to stop!

Rin jogs up to it and kicks, hard, right under the centerpiece. Despite the flimsy-looking wheels on the underside, it stays put as if glued. The red blinking light speeds its incessant blinking to a worrying rate before it goes out. Rin almost hmphs in triumph, until a third light from the headpiece shines on his middle and... Rin can only describe it as scans.

Flimsy arms grab his own arms and legs in a vice-like grip, and the third light erratically scans up, down, temporarily blinding him. This all happens in under a three seconds, and in that miniscule time frame, Rin can feel the light- and he's not sure how to describe this- rearrange something somewhere. Somewhere in the back of his head, in his brain...

He's not given much time to think about it. A funnel-hose-thing replaces the headlight, and he is sprayed with gunk. Now here's something he can eloquently illustrate.

"GROSS," Rin exclaims, covered head to shoe in the viscous stuff. And for the record, before this occurrence, he has never been covered in any strange liquids, don't listen to those damn rumors. All lies and deceit.

The flimsy armed machine finally releases him and goes back to being a roadblock. Rin plans to fire another kick in retaliation, but a sudden dizziness overtakes him. He collapses onto his knees, and before the rest of his body gives out, he sends a final farewell.

"Fuck you... ya stupid robot." Middle finger raised high, his face hits the ground.

The metal hunk of supposed junk whirs excitedly. This time, the green light blinks on slowly and watches with sick fascination as the liquid seeps through the pores of the fallen male's skin. A small speaker inside emanates an eerie tinny voice.

"_Ma-tsu-o-ka, Ri-n... Age-17. Re-vERse be-gins on count-down. 5...4...3...2..._"


	2. How did this happen

**0124**  
Haru was having a nice dream. In fact, maybe the best dream he ever had.

He was immersed in water, surrounded by marine wildlife. He was a dolphin. A dolphin with a tail and blowhole and everything.

He swam through the gentle sea, currents licking against his sides, the push and pull of invisible hands. He could hear calls of whales and shark fins slicing, the swish of creatures swimming too close, and in the far off distance, the slap of waves along a coastline.

He never wanted to leave.

But alas, fate is beautiful and cruel.

And he woke up.

**0124**  
"Haru! Haruuuu, wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Waaaake uuUUuup."

The pulling force of water becomes an actual, tangible pulling on his shirt. The voice is very familiar but he can't quite place it. Like it's an important voice, someone who _was_ important, but it's been so long since he's last heard it. Irreplaceable, but replaced.

He's still dreaming, he's sure of it. He knows that voice, and there's no way he could ever hear it again. Sure enough, the pulling and prodding stop.

And through this logic, he falls back asleep.

**0126**  
"Come _on_, wake _up_. I'm tired of holding my pants up."

So annoying. Waking up and going back to sleep only to wake up again.

But there is something very odd going on, because that voice is back and the pulling is back and _god_, it's so annoying.

So Haru wakes up again, and this time he opens his eyes.

Bright red eyes stare right back.

"Finally. Jeez that took foreeever."

Haru stares back for a moment, then sighs.

"You better not be here when I wake up again."

His head thumps back onto his pillows and promptly falls asleep, again.

**0615**  
After that dream of the impossible child, there were no more pokes. The dolphin dream also didn't come back, but Haru couldn't complain.

Haru moves to get out of bed, but a weight prevents him from doing so. He stays very still. He doesn't remember leaving anything heavy on his bed, and there is no bag in his house that weighs as much as a small child.

A... child.

He scrambles out as silently as he can, but takes the weight down with him. An uncomfortable fall and two _oomphs_ later, Haru glares down the blanket lump before him.

He remembers watching a scary movie, and a scene exactly like this happened. If he were the protagonist, viewers would be yelling at him to just get the hell away from it, whatever _it_ was.

But this is no movie, and there is no audience to yell expletives at a screen, so Haru carefully pulls the blanket up.

Red eyes meet blue.

"Surprise!"

For five excruciating minutes, Haru says nothing, doesn't move, simply looks at the strange child imitation.

"I'm going to take a bath."

"W-wait!"

**0625**  
_Knock, knock.  
Knock, knock, knock, bang.  
Bang, bang bang._

"HOW LONG ARE YOU GONNA STAY IN THERE I FEEL GROSS," child-imitator-of-Rin calls through the door.

Now Haru's seen freaky things. Nagisa's collection of penguin plushies, Gou's weekly magazine subscription, Ren and Ran's attempt at baking, to name a few. But today's events might just take the cake.

To be perfectly honest, he's never been more confused in his life. Perhaps he's being punk'd? Is that a thing they do in Australia?

"SERIOUSLY, IT FEELS LIKE A SLUG LICKED ME ALL OVER."

He blows bubbles in the tub, ruminating this new predicament.

**0714**  
Child-Rin sends him a dirty look that is more adorable than intimidating.

"God, that took forever." Haru sits at the low table, and suddenly, he's not sure what to do. Ask this kid to go home? Kick him out?

The silence thickens, and the impersonator looks at him expectantly. Moments later, a sigh and pout.

"Not even a 'welcome back?' Or a 'hey, Rin! How was the Land-Down-Under? Anything try to kill you?'" A pause. "You suck."

"Who are you?"

Impersonator-Rin gasps in mock horror.

"I've only been gone a year and you've already forgotten me? Some friend you are!" He clutches a pretend-bleeding heart and falls backwards, flailing _why, oh why Haru,_ before his movements still.

Haru crawls over to the smaller boy. His features are exactly what he remembers of Rin when they were younger: long bangs, bright smile that curves upward at the right. He tries to recall Rin's family, but there are no little brothers or baby cousins. The child is a perfect replica of younger-Rin.

Familiar red eyes peek back up at him. "You're joking... right?" Disappointment is clear in his voice but he laughs it off. "A year is a long time, isn't it Haru? It would be easy to forget me by then."

"I haven't forgotten," Haru blurts. He could never forget that irritating kid who wormed his way into his personal space and moved away just as quickly. He scrambles for an excuse. "You've just grown more."

"Haha, true!" The disappointment is brushed off too easily. "I grew three inches this year! I think I'm gonna have a growth spurt soon! You've grown, too, Haru."

Rin gets up quickly to throw an arm around Haru's shoulders. It's not the same, but apparently he doesn't notice how much Haru has really grown.

The sleeve of Rin's currently oversize jacket bunches up at his reach, and Haru notices a small tag around his wrist. Tugging it and pulling Rin's arm over his head, he reads:

_24 hour temporary service. Effects are reversed at 1 am JST. Please treat with caution and care. Adverse effects are prone to occur._

"Oh, that thing. It was there when I woke up, I'm not sure what it is, just looks like a bunch of triangles." He looks curiously at Haru. "Can you read it? It doesn't even look like kanji."

Haru looks it over again. It's not too difficult, but there are some characters that may be difficult for younger children. "How old are you now?"

"Seriously Haru? You're acting really weird." He stares Haru in the eye. He's not joking. "Same as you. Twelve."

Either English messed him up, or something magical is preventing him from reading it. Haru also decides to put away the age matter. There's no way he can convince Rin he de-aged. All he seems to remember is coming back from Australia.

"...Yeah, I can't read it."

The silence sneaks up between them and the atmosphere gets a little heavy. Haru can't tear his gaze away from his hand circling Rin's wrist. The younger boy's skin and bone and muscle almost look delicate in Haru's hold, like a harder grip could break him. The comparison of child and teen tugs at his heart. What would it have been like to grow up with him?

A muted growling pulls him out of his thoughts. Rin's face erupts into a bright red blush and he bRings up a large sleeve to scratch at a cheek in embarrassment.

"I-I guess I'm a little hungry. I _did_ walk all the way here. Can you believe it? When I woke up I was in some high school's yard!"

"Mackerel," Haru interrupts.

"Hm?"

"Mackerel."

"For breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Uh, sure. I haven't had mackerel in forever."

Some tenseness seeps out of Haru. Babysitting children can't be too difficult. Especially if they eat mackerel.

He'll get back to Rin's magical time traveling matter later.

* * *

Hi. This will be updated... dunno. We'll see. *rolls away*


End file.
